To tap the power of social media for business, understand your audience and generate content it will love, says one social media author and marketing expert.

“Create content that will make the audience you want to reach say ‘holy smokes,’ ” says Jason Falls during a Google+ Hangout with Entrepreneur magazine. “You need to create an emotional response.”

Falls advises businesses to do their homework about target fans and followers before embarking on a social media strategy.

“Do everything you can do to understand your audience,” says Falls. “You can make a heck of a lot smarter decisions.”

The research can be as simple as asking your audience what social media platforms they use and how. Understand what types of content they find valuable, he says.

Channel building

Many companies have been on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for several years, but as social media grow, other services such as Pinterest are attracting attention.

If you’re starting from scratch on one of these new channels, Falls says you should:

• Engage the right people by following, commenting, and sharing content of active users that are in your target audience; and
   
• Market through traditional platforms and more established social media channels.

Tell your audience what you have to offer them and why they should follow you, he says. It isn’t enough to simply add social media logos to marketing materials.

YouTube has potential

YouTube, Google’s video-sharing social site, is a viable option for businesses, Falls says.

Including video as part of your social media strategy can:

• Draw eyes to your content because of its search engine prominence; and
   
• Humanize your brand by adding a bit of entertainment value.

And if you have any questions about what you’re doing with social media or what you should be doing, go straight to the source, he advises. “Ask your audience,” Falls says.